6Hi!
This chapter is about what happened to Lilli! :D
Translations at the bottom...
Disclaimer: I still don't own Hetalia -.-"
Thanks for reading, please review!
~Francis's POV~
"Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette, je te plumerai…" I sang softly to myself as I stirred the freshly made soon-to-be whipped cream in my large mixing bowl. My cousin, Matthew, was going to come visit very soon, once he got off from work, and I'm going to make him some of my special crepes as a surprise! Oh, I couldn't wait to see the adorable look on his face, when he sees me, and my beautiful crepes, maybe he'll even ask to lick the bowl just like he used to do… "Ohnohnohnonhn~" I laughed to myself as I wiped my hands on my frilled apron. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket, and I picked it up to check the caller ID. A very close-up picture of Allistor, drunk and smoking a cigar while flipping off the camera greeted me, and I smiled and answered it. "Bonjour, mon ami, comment es-tu?" I said cheerfully. "Francis." Allistor said in a low, gravelly voice. I sobered up immediately. Allistor almost never called me anything but Francy-Pants or Frenchy. If he calls me by my real name that usually meant that something terrible was about to happen, or has already happened. "A-Allistor, are you alright?" I replied shakily. "Francis," he said again, and I shivered. "You need to come over right now." "B-But you're in Italy!" I said, but he had already hung up. I sighed, packing the phone into my pocket and taking off my apron. I looked longingly at the bowl of whipped cream and scribbled a quick note to Matthew saying that I would be back in a few hours. Allistor almost never asked for anything, and as his best friend I wasn't going to let even my crepes get in the way of such an emergency.
2 hours later, as it was starting to rain, I knocked on the majestic doors of my friend's beautiful waterfront home. The door swung open at my touch, and I slowly crept in. I opened my eyes wide at the scene that met me. Everything, the tables, chairs, almost all of his furniture, even his antique Scottish cabinets were gone, leaving pale spaces along the walls and floors. Why would Allistor need money so much that he even sold his favorite furniture? I thought as I crept from room to room slowly, finding no one. Thunder boomed inconsistently outside, and I marveled somewhere inside myself of how nicely that set the mood of the creepily deserted home. As I was walking down his hall Allistor suddenly sprang out of no where. "Mon ami! Thank goodness, I was so worrie-mon Dieu!" I cried at first in relief and then in horror. His face was ashen white, his startling red hair mussed and falling out, his normally lively green eyes as wide as a wild animals. Without a word, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a bedroom with a large wall mural that I recognized as his daughter's. He grabbed my shoulders and sat us both down onto the bed. "Francis, I need you to do me a favor." he said in the same gravelly voice as he had on the phone, but with a note of desperation noticeably in it also. "Anything, mon ami, as long as it is reasonable…" I trailed off confusedly. "Take Lilli," he said.
I jumped up in alarm. "Lilli! Your daughter!? Why on Earth-" I cried but he covered my mouth with his hand to silence me, motioning for me to keep my voice low. "Why…?" I whispered, staring at him in alarm and confusion. "Just please, Francis! Please promise me you'll take her!" he whispered frantically to me in alarm. Allistor never said please. I nodded, and suddenly I heard a loud boom of the door being kicked open.
"Shit!" Allistor hissed, and he again grabbed my hand and we ran out of the room, downstairs, and onto the balcony outside. It was raining so hard now that we were both drenched in a second. Allistor ran to his petite wife, who was standing there outside. They seemed to argue for a moment, then Allistor's face looked defeated and nodded. "Allistor, what's going on?" I asked. Allistor turned to me. Quickly, he whispered "They're coming for me, Francis. Lilli is in the black car 6 blocks from here. She has all of her things. I need you to take her, and I need you to get her out of here. I promise I'll never ask you for anything again! Hurry!" I glanced up and saw an unknown man's face in the window above the balcony. I looked at Allistor. "You can count on me." He grinned, looking like himself again just for a second. "Thanks, Frenchy." The man jumped out of the window, and in that split second I squeezed my friend's shoulder one last time and jumped from his balcony and into the swollen waterways below. Just before I was engulfed by the white waters, I heard Allistor's pleading cries, and then a gunshot.
~Lilli's POV~
I sat in the backseat of my Dad's old car. My suitcases, filled with practically my life, surrounded me. I was still enormously confused. Why did Dad tell me to wait in the car? Where's Mom? Dad said that she'd be coming with me…where am I going? All that I could hear from Mom and Dad's conversations when they don't know I'm listening was that Dad needed money really, really bad…and he didn't have a lot…something about someone was going to come for him…
I waited in quiet impatience. I had braided and re-braided my hair at least 7 times now. Dad had told me not to get out of the car no matter what, but I have to go see if something bad's happened. For some reason I had a sinking feeling…I opened the door, but before I could step out of the car my door suddenly closed again. I looked out of my window in alarm and saw Uncle Francis, my Dad's best friend, soaked and trying his best to smile normally. He climbed in the driver's seat. "U-Um, Uncle Francis, where is my Mom and Dad?" I asked. Uncle Francis stiffened in his seat, then all of a sudden started sobbing uncontrollably. I was used to his emotional outbursts, but in this situation…I shakily handed him my pink handkerchief, which he promptly used to dry his dripping wet hair. "U-Uncle-" "Your parents…" Uncle Francis started to say, but broke down again into my handkerchief. I started shaking. I laid my trembling hand on his shoulder. "Your parents are d-d-dead…" he sobbed.
I felt as if lightning had shot me. I shakily put my hand back into my lap. My parents…they couldn't be…dead? I pictured my mother, sweet and careful, always being able to handle my Dad's occasional violent outbursts, always knowing exactly what to say to calm him down. I pictured my Dad, goofing around and joking with his friends, telling me stories with his cigar between his teeth, his green eyes afire with life. They couldn't be…there's no way…but one look at my Uncle Francis, broken like this, told me that it was true. I would've also cried, but I knew that just would've made things worse. One of us had to be strong here, and it was a bit too late for that for Uncle. So we sat in stunned silence for 10 minutes, broken only by the sounds of Uncle Francis's quiet sobbing. Soon then he calmed down a bit, his eyes rimmed in red. "H-He told me…to take you away, Lilli." I looked at him in surprise. I was about to ask why, but held my tongue. I didn't think I was ready to hear the details of their death yet. For all I knew, I could've been dead too.
He started the car. "Where are we going, Uncle?" I asked softly, conscious of his tender emotional state. He smiled at me through the rearview mirror. "France," he said, driving away from my home, my past, my life. "My house, in Paris."
~back to third person~
Francis opened the door of his tiny apartment for Lilli, who struggled with her suitcases. "Bienvenue chez moi!" he pronounced. Lilli looked at him blankly. "Welcome to my home," he said with a smile. "Francis? Are you back?" a soft voice from another room called, and Lilli heard footsteps approaching as a man who looked kind of like Francis, but with glasses and a strange curl, entered the room. His eyes landed on Lilli, who stared back in surprise at his violet eyes. "She's...um...a bit young, Francis...honestly..." he said awkwardly, and Francis blushed indignantly as he realized what his darling Matthew was trying to say. "Non, Matthieu, this is Lilli. She'll be...staying with us from now on. Think of her as your sœur." he said. "Oh!" Matthew said, and shyly put his hand in front of Lilli. 'Um, it's very nice to meet you, Lilli, I'm Matthew Williams." he said, and Lilli shook his hand. "I'm...Lilli...Bonnefoy."
Matthew, gentleman as he is, insisted to carry her suitcases to his old room, which would now be her room. Lilli numbly went from room to room, exploring Francis's surprisingly large apartment. She was admiring his sculptures and poetry, although not understanding some of the words because they were in French, when a sugary, soft, sweet scent entered the room. She turned around and saw Francis at the door, wearing a long frilled apron decorated with roses. It was surprisingly fitting on him. "Lilli, I have just made some delightful crepes, if you would like to try some they are in the living room." he said with a smile. Lilli nodded, although she had never had crepes before, but was eager to try the source of that wonderful smell. She followed Francis to the living room, where a large tray of triangular-like pastries lay on a table, filled with chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream and coated with powdered sugar. She looked at Francis in surprise of how professional the crepes looked. Francis smiled proudly, placing his hands on his hips. "I own a bakery downtown," he explained. Lilli took a crepe, feeling almost guilty for ruining the perfection of it, then bit into it. Her eyes shot open. Francis studied her reaction smugly as she savored the rest of the crepe, getting a little bit of whipped cream on the corner of her mouth. Francis giggled to himself as he wiped it clean, and Lilli noticed it was the same pink handkerchief she had given him. She didn't ask for it back, though, he seemed to like it very much. Suddenly she noticed the almost-empty bowl of whipped cream sitting in the kitchen, waiting to be cleaned. The whipped cream was her favorite part, it really would be a shame to waste it..."Uncle Francis?" she asked. "Yes, ma petite fleur?" he noted fondly. "May I..." Lilli asked shyly, and Francis curiously tilted his head. "May I...erm...have the rest of that?" she said, and pointed to the whipped cream bowl. Francis gleamed, patting her head as he came back with the bowl and a napkin. Lilli smiled as she dipped her finger into the sweet, fluffy concoction. Maybe she could get used to this...
Hopefully I achieved to create some fluffyness right there :3
If you haven't noticed (or if I wrote it wrongly), Lilli's/Francis's pink handkerchief is the same one he used in episode 10 :D
It's a bit hard to write Lilli's POV, so tell me if I make any mistakes and I'll try to change them!
Allouette was one of my favorite songs to play on the piano, so I loved to put it in the story :D
Translations:
mon ami= my friend
comment es-tu= how are you
Mon Dieu= My God
non= no
ma petite fleur= my little flower :3
sœur= sister
I'll get into details about how Vash and Lilli meet next chapter!